Color and Pattern Identifying and Highlighting Lenses

ABSTRACT

An optical film having electrochromatic characteristics that block selected wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum when activated by an electric signal configured to operate with a controller that activates the electromagnetic characteristics of the film.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/800,374.

BACKGROUND

A large number of people in this country have color vision deficiencies (more commonly known as colorblindness) and are unable to distinguish between disparate parts of the visible spectrum. While in many situations, this can serve as a minor issue, there are other cases where it can be a major inconvenience (hard to read text with certain color combinations on a computer screen) or even a safety issue (not being able to read a red safety sign). Colorblind people are often overlooked because their condition isn't as obvious as someone with a wheelchair.

Another potential application addressees the military's need to rapidly and accurately distinguish between friend and foe. With the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the role of equipment capable of rapidly and accurately distinguishing between friend and foe is more critical than ever. Currently, many military forces have IR patches that can be used by those with Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) to identify persons at a distance. Similarly, the CPIHL could be used in daylight hours to distinguish between two uniforms that look very similar.

Past efforts have related to the development of optical films capable of selectively isolating distinct parts of the spectrum primarily for scientific analysis. Furthermore, these efforts do not make use of periodic or other temporal variation of the filter's attenuation characteristics, which permit a user to rapidly and effectively identify the presence of specific colors within their field of view. Additional efforts have related to using photochromic and other materials to automatically apply broadband attenuation as a function of intensity. This method is commonly applied in auto-dimming rear-view mirror on cars as well as with certain sunglasses. These efforts also do not make use of periodic or recursive variation to attenuate or pass specific wavelength bands. Nor are they band specific; they are instead conceived as broadband attenuators.

There are also some products on the markets that enable someone with CVD to pass color tests such as Ishihara test for Color Deficiency. However, most of these are simply color filters that will darken certain color tones. Color vision is not actually improved with these products; the contrast range is only shifted, not enhanced. For example, people with deuteranomaly have trouble distinguishing between red and green. On the Ishihara test, some of the plates contain green numbers on red plates, or red numbers on green plates to test for this trait. The brightness of the greens and reds are equal, but the tones are different. Looking at the plates through a red filter will darken the green images, so those with deuteranomaly can distinguish between the number and background on that particular plate. However, if the red number was darker to begin with, then they would be able to distinguish between the background and the number without the lenses—but not with the lenses. So the only difference is that with the glasses, brighter greens get confused with darker reds. While this may be useful in some circumstances, it still does not give the user a means to distinguish all greens from all reds, as people with ordinary color vision can.

SUMMARY

An optical device, comprising a film having electrochromatic characteristics that block selected wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum when activated by an electric signal; and a controller operatively connected to the film that activates the electromagnetic characteristics of the film.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows images made of two or more colors

FIG. 2 show s grayscale version of FIG. 1 that shows the images have similar brightness between the colors.

FIG. 3 shows the images of FIG. 1 viewed through a green filter

FIG. 4 shows that filtered images have more contrast, changing the relative brightness of the colors within each image

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with the present invention the and Pattern Identifying and Highlighting Lenses is a vision enhancement device that can help counteract the effects of vision problems such as color blindness as well as augment the capability of those with normal vision.

It accomplishes this by though the use of an optical filter that intermittently activates an electrochromatic or other material that is either applied as an appliqué or included within a lens. Current technologies apply either constant filtering or filtering through manual control. By varying the filtering effect with time, certain colors will appear to flicker while others will appear steady.

Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the invention are: (a) to provide an optical film with temporally varying attenuation characteristics; and (b) to provide an optical device that alternatively attenuate or pass specific optical bands according.

In a superlative example, the red-tinted lenses would alternately attenuate and pass the green color band (wavelength of ˜495-570 nm). This would have the effect of darkening green objects. While wearing this embodiment of the invention, red objects would not change in appearance while green objects of the same intensity would appear to flicker between light and dark as the filter was cycled on and off.

Alternative embodiments could use different filters to match the specific color vision deficiency of the user.

In another embodiment, the device can be used with other vision enhancing devices to not only attenuate frequencies, but to also amplify others, shifting the visible spectrum. This could be an advantage, even to no-colorblind individuals. For example, several studies have shown that people with certain color-blindness types are better at locating certain camouflaged objects than people with average vision. This is because colors with similar shades but different brightnesses will be hard to distinguish by people with normal vision, but more easily distinguished by those with certain color deficiencies. With this invention, the same ability can be conferred to non-colorblind individuals. This ability would be advantageous to both the military as well as to hunters.

When the human eye sees two different colors, the brain combines these images. An alternate embodiment would use a filter in just one lens (a monocle), thus preserving the true color for the opposite eye.

In an alternative embodiment, the lenses could incorporate a Heads Up Display (HUD) that could display other relevant information. For pilots and drivers, HUDs could display critical vehicle info such as vehicle heading and speed. For soldiers, a Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) may indicate the location of friends or foes or incorporate camera or night vision displays.

This invention of Color and Pattern Identifying and Highlighting Lenses allows the user to literally see objects in a new light. By alternately filtering various spectrums in the visible range, it can allow a person to more easily distinguish between color tones or shades that their normal vision doesn't allow. The filtering properties changes at a high rate (over 20 Hz), so that the different views (resulting from the changing filtering properties) are combined by their visual system into a single image. 

1. An optical device, comprising a film having electrochromatic characteristics that block selected wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum when activated by an electric signal; and a controller operatively connected to the film that activates the electromagnetic characteristics of the film.
 2. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the film is integrated into a lens.
 3. The optical device of claim 1, wherein the controller cycles the activation and deactivation of the electrochromatic characteristics.
 4. An optical film with temporally varying attenuation characteristics that alternatively attenuate or pass 1 or more optical bands.
 5. The device of claim 4 in which the attenuation characteristics are controlled by an electric current.
 6. The device of claim 5 in which the frequency or frequencies of the optical and affected are determined and controlled by a microprocessor.
 7. The device of claim 6 further comprising an optical sensor to determine ambient light conditions.
 8. The device working in conjunction with other vision-enhancing device such as a thermal or light-amplifying goggles.
 9. The device of claim 6 in which the attenuation characteristics can be manually adjusted.
 10. A method for enhancing vision, comprising determining the visible wavelength deficiencies of a user, selecting a film color filter in accordance with the deficiencies, and attenuating the film to alert a user to the user's deficiencies. 